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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Slow Growing

We got a little backyard work/play in this evening. You can guess which activity lasted longer.

I happened to have my phone in my pocket so I snapped a quick update. As you can see, we've been doing a little picking. Photos of strawberries are rare (even rarer are strawberries that make it inside). Next time I'll try for shots of them still on the plant, but the oldest Bauer boy is quick to pick.

Long story short: Strawberries are doing well and the berries are sweeter, larger, and much more abundant in their second year. Yay!

The main goal of today's work was to cage up the tomatoes. Oh, those tomatoes. I am proud of them and their slow, slow growing. After planting at our usual date of late April, things got a little weird. It frosted twice since the tender beauties have been in the ground. I have never in my life covered tomatoes, but both these and the even more delicate pepper plants had to be tucked in with sheets in the month of May. So rude, but they survived.

Now that overnight lows are hovering around 60, they've taken off and are looking great. We are experimenting with a new cage this year - the Ultomato Cage, to be exact. "The only tomato cage you'll ever need!!"

After watching the full-grown tom plants tear the basic cages from the ground last year, I knew I wanted something different. I thought about just staking them, but that most likely involves pruning. I don't think giving plants haircuts will be high on my priority list this July. This way we can still tie the plants to stakes, but they're also caged enough to grow wild and free. Fingers crossed.

I guess the test will come tonight. As Nathan snapped the last cage together, God decided to take care of the watering for us. And while Nathan was busy performing free child labor, Owen was doing this:

Oh well, at least he managed to stay out of the ants this time.

I didn't take any more pictures, but you aren't missing much. Like I said, peppers need even warmer temperatures than tomatoes, so they honestly don't look much different than they did when we put them in the ground. I may rethink my planting time for those guys next year.

The corn and cucumbers have all popped their heads through the soil (I'll post proof soon), and the beans are slowly but surely following suit. Bean seeds need warmer temperatures than we've been having so I may need to replant. Live and learn!

This turned out to be more than a "quick update" but you got to see an adorable baby swinging on his tummy and a handful of strawberries next to the face of your favorite kindergartner. Worth it or totally worth it?